


Rocks in Rivers

by misura



Category: Alex Benedict - Jack McDevitt
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-07
Updated: 2016-12-07
Packaged: 2018-09-08 09:08:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8838718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: A series of moments in the life of Hugh Scott.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [salable_mystic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/salable_mystic/gifts).



Hugh Scott did not regret coming to Terra Nuela. The heat wasn't nearly as bad as he'd been led to believe, and as to the idea that everything worth founding had already been found - well, that was a matter of opinion, wasn't it?

Sure, none of the items they'd recovered so far would end up the centerpiece of some exhibition that would draw thousands (or even hundreds) of eager visitors. That didn't mean they didn't have any historical value, or that there hadn't already been three musea who'd expressed an interest.

"There's an old saying: history gets written by the victors," Gabe told him once.

Gabe's full name was Gabriel Benedict. By most standards, he'd be considered rich. It put him at some distance from the rest of the expedition on occasion.

"In this day and age, I don't think that's true anymore. History gets written by historians now."

"Also rewritten, rehashed and discussed to exhaustion."

Gabe smiled. "That, too, yes. Still, I'd like to think that what we find here will, in some small way, make a difference. That it will help someone get a clearer view of what it was like, living here. It must have been exciting, walking around on this planet, knowing you were one of the first humans to have left the solar system, to walk on an unknown planet."

"For the first week, maybe," Hugh said. Some of the younger expedition members had gone through the same process. A few of them wouldn't come back, he thought, opting to study history from behind a comfortable desk instead.

"Maybe 'excitement' wasn't quite the right word," Gabe acknowledged. "Still, they must have been aware that they were part of history, of something extraordinary. That people would one day come here, hoping to find out more about them."

"I guess it's a pity that they weren't considerate enough to leave us some accurate maps."

"Now where would have been the fun in that?" Gabe smiled again. "I prefer to think that they trusted us to figure things out for ourselves. To leave it to the historians to tell their story, instead of trying to do so themselves."

"Maybe they did." Hugh had met several historians. He'd even liked some of them.

*

Three expeditions later, Terra Nuela seemed like a paradise.

Hugh didn't mind the rain so much as some of the others. It was the part where even the best quality umbrella ended up ruined after a few hours of exposure to the wind gusts that got to him.

On the plus side, it made the evenings rather cozy. Nobody went out on their own. People were forced to either act social or turn in early and hope the howling wind wouldn't keep them awake.

"Do you remember Alex?" Gabe asked.

"Your nephew, right?" Hugh had liked the boy. "He seemed quite keen on following in your footsteps."

"I have high hopes." Gabe looked flattered. "Of course, I cheated shamelessly. I used to bury all sorts of treasure in places around the house. There's a forest at the back," he added, by way of explanation. "A great place for having all sorts of made-up adventures."

Hugh imagined it would be. Many people preferred the conveniences of the city, of living in a place where everything you could want was within walking distance. That had its good points, too, of course.

 

(In later years, Hugh would look back on this conversation and wonder if he should have said something, if he might have prepared Gabe for the fact that people made their own choices. He never could think of some way in which he could have gotten that message across, though, and anyway, he suspected that deep down inside, Gabe knew.)

*

Hugh told Survey that he was looking for a career change.

 _"For now, I guess I'm done with the past. I'd like to try and be part of the future in some way,"_ he'd told them at the interview.

The truth was, some of the fun had gone out of the whole 'digging up ancient ruins' thing. It wasn't the company. Hugh liked working with people who shared his interests.

He'd known from the beginning that finds that changed history were rare. Not every expedition could end up with a Tenabrium or a Zebra Field on their hands. He'd told himself that that was fine, that he was enough of a realist to deal with what was, after all, reality.

Hugh had never had any illusions about his chance of changing history. That was never what it had been about. It had been about having fun, getting paid to do something he enjoyed.

When he realized that he'd stopped enjoying himself, he knew that it was time for a change.

Survey was always looking for people who had experience working in different conditions, who didn't mind a lot of travel. Once he'd passed the psych tests, they told him that they were glad to have him aboard. They also put him in touch with a realtor.

Hugh waited to call the woman back until after his first expedition. She didn't seem to mind.

Maybe it was what everybody did.

*

Then came the expedition with the _Tenandrome_.

Finding the _Corsarius_.

Hugh hadn't been able to believe it at first. Nobody had. They all knew the story of what had happened to _Corsarius_. They all knew that what they were seeing made that story a lie. The only question that remained was how much of one.

Whispered discussion: to board or not to board?

It might be a decoy. A ship that only looked like the _Corsarius_. Perhaps there was still an explanation for all of this. Hugh couldn't think of one, but that didn't mean it didn't exist.

Best find out as much as we can, the captain argued. Best to have all the facts.

Most of the crew agreed. Hugh did, too. He tried to tell himself to be excited. He felt sick, confused.

Finding all the facts didn't help. If anything, it only made him feel worse.

*

"Let it go, Gabe."

Bad enough that Hugh couldn't forget what he had seen. He had no intention of letting someone else see it, too. Especially not an old friend, who was still able to get excited at the idea of changing history.

"I only want to find out the truth," Gabe said.

 _No, you don't. Trust me._ He couldn't say that out loud, of course. Gabe wouldn't understand.

"You already have the truth. There was a technical problem. We turned back. That's all."

"There's something more," Gabe said.

Hugh shrugged. "I'm sorry, I don't know what to tell you." _Go away. Leave me alone._

"You could tell me who else was aboard the _Tenandrome_ , for starters," Gabe said. "If you don't want to talk to me, maybe one of them will."

"We've been over this. Talk to Survey."

"Fine." Gabe raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Just tell me one thing."

"What?"

"Whatever you found - it's not going to kill you or anything is it? You're okay?"

Hugh managed a smile. "I'm okay, Gabe. I promise." He knew Gabe might only have asked in one last effort to get him to open up. Still, he felt touched. "Good luck with your search. I very much hope you won't find what you're looking for."

Gabe chuckled a bit. "I'm not sure whether or not to thank you for that."

 _I am._ Hugh didn't think that he'd be seeing Gabe again. That was a pity. Still, it might be for the best.


End file.
